User blog:Deadcoder/Deadcoder's Reviews: Attack of the Zombies
Attack of the Zombies is part of a block of episodes in season 2 that were entirely cheesy filler. This block started about 5 episodes into the season, and ended about 4 from the end. Many people criticize this episode, and that block of episodes as a whole, for being cheesy filler. I won't argue against that label, but I will defend the episode. Filler episodes can range from good to bad, from the serie's peak, "Ghost Channel", to the worst of the show "Echoes". Cheesy media can range in a similar way, from StarTrek TOS, to Plan 9 from outer space. Cheesy filler doesn't mean good or bad. Shower Scenes are good, and David Carayon's writing is bad. So I will be fair as I evaluate the English dub, on a scale of 0 to 10. =The Review= Attack of the Zombies starts off with the usual Desert Sector scenery porn. We then see Kiwi, and a jiggling lightbulb, making us think "Oh god, not the earthquake plot again." But a Spectre comes out, placing the lightbulb on the table carefully to prevent broken glass "reinforcing my "XANA isn't the villain" theory"." We see the spectre approach Kiwi, and the scene cuts away, with Kiwi briefly barking, and stopping. While I admit that both are cliche, I appreciate that Bruno Regeste used slasher cliches in a zombie cliche piece. It's not innovative, but it breaks genres. Yumi meets up with the rest of the group, asking how the Italian test went. Jeremie failed, horribly. Odd, who is actually from Italy, speaks perfect gratuitous Italian. Knowing Moonscoop, this was probably recycled from the Italian dub into every dub. To show that Kadic is completely incompetent, Milly asks Sissi about her opinion about her father's plan to set up a language exchange program with france, the country the school was shown to be in, VIA A FREAKING SATELLITE ZOOM-IN! Milly and Tamiya look like they have about 5 pounds of Mascara in this shot, and their eyes look like the eyes of the chinese laborers who animate the 2D animation. Sissi retorts that they don't have any readers. Given that this school is so dysfunctional that it might actually impede literacy, I can't argue with that. She also claims that she doesn't want the whole school knowing what she thinks, with Odd retorting that she doesn't think. Milly bitches about hating Sissi, with Odd agreeing with her. Since this is a cheesy horror episode, everything must be at night, without any reason. So the students are shown in the cafeteria getting dinner. We get another case of everyone except Odd thinking Kiwi is stupid. Based on Jeremie's crappy reasoning, I'm going with Odd on this one. Milly and Tamiya are in bathrobes and see Kiwi in the dorm building. Tamiya tries to get Kiwi back to Odd's room, while Milly heads to the showers, which look like a maze for some reason. Tamiya is bit, and her eyes glow. Since this episode insists on using slasher cliches in a zombie flik, Milly is attacked in the shower, by a zombie. We get bad cafeteria comedy, but luckily, Milly arrives to stop such non-comedy, via melodrama. She screams that Tamiya came after her, and Rosa assumes it was a nightmare. Umm, Rosa, she's clearly just been in the shower, so she obviously wasn't sleeping. A tower scan finds an activated tower. Thinking at the speed of a teenage boy with a girl he wants to sleep with, Ulrich calls Yumi. She listens completely deadpan, and leaves as Hiroki ships Ulumi "which is how I would react to such shipping as well". Back at the cafeteria that is going to serve humans, Rosa figures out that this is freaking serious. Every horror flick must have one insipid female who is sacrificed for ratings. Rosa knows this, and sends Sissi, but doesn't send her alone, because they might need her later. Sissi and Ulrich are smart enough to go away from the zombies, while Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita stay behind, because they are an idiot savant, a moron, and suicidal. They return to the cannibalism cafeteria. Odd calmly explains the zombie outbreak, and Rosa passes out, re-enacting what I like to call "The taco bell incident". Sissi is attacked in the woods, since she's an insipid female in the woods in a B-grade horror flick. Ulrich knows they need her for drama, and rescues her, "perhaps compensating for some guilt." Sissi smiles and gasps at the violence, and proves my theory that she is aroused by Ulrich treating people like crap. The zombies leave the cafeteria, and the occupants know that they are probably getting reinforcements. Nicholas points out the blatantly obvious, causing Rosa to pass out again. WHY DID THEY NOT LEAVE THE CAFETERIA IF THE ZOMBIES HAVE LEFT FOR REINFORCEMENTS?! Minus one point for every character being an idiot. William tries to be a responsible adult, and calls emergency services, ignorant of the horror that is the incompetence of French emergency services. They assume that he's joking. Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie realize that staying is suicide, and attempt to leave. William attempts to keep them there, since individually, they're screwed. Yumi arrives at the factory, in the midst of horror movie fog. Ulrich and Sissi know that being in the middle of the woods in a horror movie is suicide, so they attempt to return to the cannibalism cafeteria. Back in the cafeteria, Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie encounter the Aelita options! :0. Act suicidal and/or crazy. :1. Attack it with a long single note of angry music. :2. Have an argument with it. :3. Use Energy Fields. It's not season 3 yet, so 3 is out. The soundtrack is locked into "horror movie piano" so 1 is out. So they decide to combine 0 and 2, and tell the truth, which sounds completely insane, and results in an argument. Since this is ethical, it doesn't work. Luckily, they have a plan B, making this one of only a handful of times that Jeremie had a backup. The plan is to use Odd as a distraction, while the useful people escape. This nearly works, but Herb catches them. William throws Jeremie to the ground, with an asshole line. Umm, Odd, Jeremie, Aelita; I hate to point this out, but you've got a kitchen there, with knives. This isn't a hard problem to solve. But I suppose you used more intelligence than usual by having a Plan B, so I'll let this slide. Being the only sane one, and ironically, the only one XANA hasn't targeted this episode, Yumi safely arrives at the factory. Apparently, when you let a criminal escape, you're deemed incompetent, and given the crap jobs; so the two cops from "Common Interest" arrive to investigate. However, like most cops, they're useless. The zombies attack Mr. Reilly. Yumi calls, asking where they are. Back at the cafeteria, the future meals notice they're surrounded on all sides. They also notice that kiwi got in somehow. I know rats can crawl through your drains, but this is absurd. Milly points out that this was the dog they saw before Tamiya was attacked. Odd gets bitten. After that, Odd looks at Kiwi's eyes, and notices the XANA logo. He transforms, and Jeremie points out that they should probably tie him up. Everyone piles on Odd to keep him from biting anyone. Where did they get that rope? I'll ignore it by assuming that it's that awful whole-grain pasta, and it's slightly undercooked. It looks the same. Ulrich distracts the zombies away, while Sissi goes for cover in the cafeteria. People are suspicious, since Sissi acting sane is cause for suspicion. Upon hearing her be verbally abusive, and half-assed at it, they realize that it's sissi, and let her in. Since they're trading one idiot for another, they lose William, who is attacked by a student dressed identically to him. Ulrich knocks out some zombies, while Yumi arrives to help Aelita and Jeremie, via the power of anime. Ulrich gets into the cafeteria, and Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi get back to the factory. Luckily, they are able to stop the horror movie piano music, and start the virtualization music! Back in the cafeteria, people are about to die, "except this time it's not from the food". They notice that the zombies are planning another attack. Milly starts to cry, and since Sissi is stressed, the bitch horns recede, and she suddenly becomes caring. The zombies notice that the others escaped via the sewers. On Lyoko, Yumi and Aelita are close to the tower, but there's Krabs in the way. This is a normal thing for Yumi. Back in the factory, Xana doesn't need Jeremie to get Aelita to Lyoko, so he dispatches some zombies. Back in the cafeteria, they prepare for the zombie attack: :Ulrich: "Sissi, you know clothing, start cutting Odd's hair, and turn it into anime-hair chainmail. That should protect a few of us! Rosa, Aelita isn't here anymore, so you don't have to hide the knives, get them. Milly, we don't have an Aelita, so start making a high-pitched noise that will incapacitate them." All they really do is arm themselves with pots and furniture. BY THE POWER OF SWEDEN, WE WILL USE THE POWER OF POT AND OLD IKEA! The zombies spread like a STD on fire island. Back on Lyoko, Yumi and Aelita are actually dealing with their attackers and running. Soon, all that's left are Sissi, Milly, and Ulrich. Sissi is taken protecting Milly, Back on Lyoko, the Krabs are mostly defeated, but the tower is now missing. Luckily, it's just hidden. So they try to levitate Aelita to the tower. Eventually, they realize that the area is still present, just invisible. So Code Lyoko predicted Minecraft's Chunk Errors. Jeremie sets up the RTTP, while Aelita gets to the tower. A Kankrelat provides comedic relief. In the cafeteria, Ulrich, Sissi, and Milly are cornered. Ulrich is busy dealing with Odd, and Sissi is taken protecting Milly, as they are cornered by the insurmountable waist-high bars. Jeremie is able to launch the RTTP before he completely converts over. Cue the recycled footage. They explain to Milly, that even though she's normally a massive ass, she can be a caring person, and deep down, likes Milly. Review Summary This episode had an extremely high ratio of non-Lyoko scenes to Lyoko scenes. This was mainly to add to the horror elements. Sadly, this would have been a perfect episode to use the season 1 forest sector, but it wasn't. This episode wasn't very novel, but I like that they mixed up the zombie sub-genre by throwing in some slasher cliches. It's not innovative, but it's still entertaining. This episode was good for the secondary cast. Milly is the perfect character to use for screaming horror movie girl, without getting annoying; and we got to see the part of William that's stupid but tries to be responsible, with dire consequences, a trait that would become a lot more emphasized as the show went on. This was a good episode for Sissi, showing her shallow bitchy exterior, and friendly caring interior; which is unusual because most episodes with her normally only show one. The gag with Rosa passing out got annoying after the second time, and the students had a lot of stupid moments where they could have escaped to safety, but didn't. So the episode was a horror episode, with character pieces and idiocy; gaining an overall rating of 7/10. There are better episodes, but for what this episode is at its core, it's decent. Category:Blog posts Category:Attack of the Zombies